writing-humanities

Humanities papers commonly use four argumentation structures: general-to-specific (thesis then supporting points), progressive (phenomenon to cause to solution), comparative (contrasting viewpoints then synthesis), and problem-oriented (question, literature review, framework, analysis, answer). Choose based on your research question type.

A strong humanities thesis must be specific, arguable, and bounded. Avoid broad claims like "Lu Xun was great" and instead write something like "The satirical techniques in Lu Xun's essays embody his critical realist spirit," which gives a concrete claim to defend.

Chinese humanities papers typically use numbered references with formats like "[1] 王国维. 人间词话[M]. 北京: 人民文学出版社, 1960: 15." for books, with distinct patterns for journal articles, classical texts, and translated foreign works including translator names.

Humanities papers center on argumentation logic and theoretical analysis rather than experimental data, use flexible structures instead of IMRAD, favor concept diagrams over data charts, may cite classic older literature, and permit moderately literary language while remaining objective.

Replace first-person casual phrases like "我觉得" with "本文认为", vague claims like "大家都知道" with "学界普遍认为", and absolute statements like "肯定是" with hedged forms like "可以推断". Maintain third-person perspective and consistent terminology.